The decision came at Tuesday’s first trilateral talks Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi hosted in Beijing between his Pakistani and Afghan counterparts.

Last month, Islamabad shared with Kabul what it called an “Afghanistan-Pakistan Action Plan for Solidarity” (APAPS) for a “constructive and meaningful” engagement between the two countries. The proposed plan, officials say, would create working groups in politics, economics, the military, intelligence sharing, and issues related to Afghan refugees in Pakistan.

“There is a response now from our brothers in Afghanistan. I think things will start moving on the formation of the five groups on different topics entailed in this proposal and there will be progress on this proposal,” Pakistani Foreign Minister Khawaja Asif told a joint news conference at the trilateral talks.

Asif did not elaborate and credited China for the headway made on the proposed dialogue with Kabul.

“China is fully supportive of this effort and today during the discussions, it was part of our deliberations and this proposal is practically, if I may so, part of the dialogue, which took place today,” noted the Pakistani foreign minister.

Without directly commenting on remarks made by his Pakistani counterpart, Afghan Foreign Minister Salahuddin Rabbani praised Beijing for arranging Tuesday’s dialogue and said that China has “very good” relations with both Afghanistan and Pakistan.

“We are confident that China will play its role as an honest broker and someone that both countries [Afghanistan and Pakistan] believe and are happy to work with,” said Rabbani.

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